Destroying Hope
by The Lady Osipria
Summary: What if Connor hadn't come back until a bit later and what if instead a girl by the name of Hope arrives out of the portal. I wondered what would have happened if Connor had girlfriend already when the whole icky Cordelia thing happens...Rated M 2 b safe
1. The Destroyer and his Girlfriend?

Destroying Hope Chapter 1

I had idea and decided to write it. I hope you like it. Also for Hope I use Monica Keena as her because I think Vincent and her have really great chemistry on screen. Obviously I don't own anything so don't sue me lol.

The air crackled and an enormous terrifying beast fell out of the portal. The occupants of the hotel looked at the thing in horror until something else fell out of the portal. It was clearly human or humanoid and it cleanly cut off the beast's head. It turned and faced them and they could see it was in fact a she. She had matted blonde hair and was wearing very filthy jeans and a shirt so dirty you could hardly tell what colour it was, but the thing that drew the most attention was the large sword she held in her hand. She looked around very swiftly and then settled her eyes on them again.

"Who are you?" she said pointing her sword at Angel. Angel faltered for a minute as though amazed such a feral looking girl could speak such good English and then he spoke. " My name is Angel, who are you?"

She smiled and it was such a terrifying smile and then she swung her sword, aiming it at Angel's neck. He ducked out of the way and as he came back up he aimed a kick to her stomach, which caught her by surprise, and she fell to the ground, winded. As she started to get up she was hit with a tranquilliser and she fell to the ground once more.

"Gunn, go get some rope from the basement," Angel said starting to pick up the girl carefully. He carried her to his office and sat her in a chair near the desk He stared at her as though deep in thought.

About 10 minutes later the girl awoke having had her legs and arms tied and then tied to the chair. She struggled with the bonds, trying to break free. "It's no use trying to escape we can just shoot over and over again," Cordy said standing near the door with her arms crossed over her chest. The girl stopped struggling and looked them all with disgust.

"Okay," Angel started, "how about we try this again civilly, who are you?" She glared at him, "My name is Hope." Angel sat forward slightly, "Where did you come from when you came out of the portal?" The others stood back listening eagerly.  
" The _Dimension_ I came out of is called Quortoth," She finished still glaring at everyone. Angel, Gunn, Cordy and Fred's faces flashed with recognition and Angel's had a tinge of hope.

"Were there any other humans in there with you?" Angel said desperately. This made Hope smile for some reason and this time it was a half genuine smile. "Yes," She simply said. Angel got up out of his seat and grasped her shoulders "Was there a baby? Did you see a baby?" Gunn pulled Angel off of her and she straightened her shoulders. "No I didn't see any _babies_," She said with another creepy smile.

Angel sighed, sadness creeping into his face as he sat back down. "The slug-like creatures that came out of the portal before you did said that the Destroyer was coming. Is that you? Are you the Destroyer?" Hope's face brightened slightly when he mentioned the Destroyer to everyone's surprise. " No I'm not the Destroyer, He's my boyfriend," She said with a bit of the creepy smile coming through again.

A/N: Please review! It encourages me to keep writing and I'd love some constructive critisism.

xoxo Kay


	2. Not an update but please read AN

Author's Note!

Hey Guys,

I really hate to do this to you but I really don't know if I'm gonna be continuing this story anymore. I will put it on hiatus for now even though I hate when authors do this but I've lost my spark for all things angel at the moment sorry!

I thought I would put this up because I hate when authors leave you hanging and I promise I'll try and get inspired but I don't think it will happen anytime soon!


	3. Hope in Bonds

Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

"How did you manage to get out of Quor-toth?" Fred asked hesitantly. This girl reminded her of herself when she was trapped in Pylea. She felt sorry for the girl and knew how messed up her brain was when she came back so she made sure to tread carefully. "I forced some demons to show me how and here I am.

"Okay," Angel said pacing the office, "What I don't understand is how you got into Quor-toth in the first place." The girl now known as Hope sighed. She had grown civil and calm and looked half like a normal girl.

"It happened one night when I was sitting alone at home. I was reading a book when I heard this crackling noise; then I woke up in this strange red, burning place and I met an old man named Holtz. He took me back to his camp and I lived there for a few days now," She said as she lounged as best as she could in her bondage. Her head snapped up as she heard a loud crackling just like she had heard the night she disappeared and she smiled the creepy smile again.

"Fred stay here and watch her," and with that Angel and the others walked out of the room and Fred watched the girl tied to the chair. Hope continued smiling and smirking wondering how many of them were dead yet. She had heard _his_ voice and knew he would have kicked all their asses. He would also be able to smell that she was there and that she was tied up. But then she frowned. He had told her that he had been in Quor-toth since he was a baby, which meant he knew nothing of this world, and he would surely be overwhelmed. She hoped Holtz was coming through as well. He disapproved of her and Steven's relationship, thinking it a distraction but he had taught her to fight and had sometimes shared friendly conversations.

She heard fighting, then shouting and then nothing. Fred poked her head out the door and then left the room completely as she had been called over. Angel walked into the room looking dejected and broken.  
"Let me go!" She growled out and she struggled in vain with her ropes. His head snapped to her as if he had forgotten she was there. "He- My son, Connor…he is the Destroyer. Am correct?"

She struggled once more but then she relaxed in the chair, " He is the Destroyer, yes but his name is not Connor. It's Steven." Angel looked angry with that and he put his face in his hands. Damn you Holtz, he thought to himself.

Angel abruptly stood up and walked out of the room. He then came back in with a confused looked on his face. "What?" Hope said needing something to keep herself busy.  
"I thought I heard the door close but- Oh damn the portal!" Angel then raced out of the room calling out for someone or something called Lorne. A genuine smile graced her features as she thought to herself one thing. Holtz was here and he would find Steven and they would come for her and kill these morons.

A/N: Short, I know but it's an update. I'm still pulling myself back into Angel so bare with me. :) Review Please!


	4. Holtz makes an Appearance

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

A/N: The parts with Sunny happened except for the kiss and the nakedness lol because he knows the difference between girls and boys in this coz of Hope. Also the Scene with Tyke I think his name was, and the fight with Angel. That still happened.

Steven paced the small space of the motel room and then sat down on the bed. "Steven, my son, you will get your chance to kill him again. Do not let it fill your head with defeat," Holtz said from the other side of the room.

"It's not that, father, "he said trying to sound as respectful as he could because he knew an argument would ensue after he confessed what was loading up his mind, "It's Hope. They have her locked up in that place."

Holtz sighed exasperatedly, "You don't need her Steven. Focus your mind on Angelus. Although…." Steven listened intently to his father and processed everything he was saying. He loved his father of course but he didn't like the way he talked about Hope. He refocused on the conversation.  
"Steven you have to go back there and befriend him and gain his trust. This will solve both of your problems. Once you are among them they will release your precious Hope and you will have access to kill Angelus. Whilst you are among them you will learn how he thinks, how he fights and find his weaknesses," Holtz finished.

Meanwhile…

Hope had tired herself out trying to escape and she was asleep in the chair. Her dreams were a blur as always and bright red. Blood. Everything always looked like blood in her dreams. Suddenly something was choking her, strangling her. It was that place. It was Quor-toth. She couldn't understand it but Steven thought of the place as home. She could never think of it as home. Not after living a life in this world. In this strange dream world, she found that she missed her parents and wondered if they had even realized she was gone. Who knows how much time had passed since she was gone. The chokehold became tighter and she screamed out trying to fight back.

Then her eyes snapped open as someone shook her awake. She was looking into the face of the kind-looking blonde woman. "Hey, Are you okay?" she questioned with a concerned expression. Hope blinked and then muttered an "I'm fine". The blonde woman pursed her lips and crossed her arms, "I'm Cordelia, were not the enemy. We want to help you and Con-sorry, Steven." Hope just looked away as though uninterested. Holtz had trained her well in the short time he must have known her, Cordelia thought. She left the room and saw that Fred had the strange contraption she had made to track the emissions of things that came out of the portal and was walking around the hotel getting Gunn to make a mark with a piece of chalk where there was a strong reading.

Fred continued walking around until she started walking toward the entrance. "Wow, Something here is pretty…." She looked up and saw Connor standing there, "Hot."  
She covered up quickly, "Angel's son! Hi. I didn't mean to click at ya." She hastily walked away to stand near Gunn.

Angel and Connor looked each other over. "Hey," Angel said lamely and Connor replied in kind. "I thought I'd come by like you said and I also came back for Hope. Can you let her go?" Connor said seriously. Angel seemed to have zoned off possibly euphoric that his son had come by willingly but then realized the girl was still tied up in the office. He rushed to said office after that.

Hope walked out of the office as casually as she had been to the mall with some friends and had not just been tied up. She walked right up to Connor and stood by his side all the while giving him a strange look. Steven is not killing them. Why is he not killing them, she thought. Angel introduced him to everyone and she smirked as Steven glared at the green, horned demon as he walked by. Everybody cleared out after that obviously to give Steven and Angel some father son bonding time. Angel looked at her as if to make her leave but she glared a hole through his head and he even gulped as though afraid which made her very smug indeed.

"So…. you hungry?" Angel asked not knowing what to say. "What do you have?" Connor replied and Angel was silent for a few beats, "We can go out." Suddenly Cordelia was coming out of the office yelling strange words, "WHAT? WHERE? IT'S A BAR! VAMPIRES! A GANG OF THEM! ANGEL! CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Angel and Connor looked at her strangely and Angel tried to talk to her but she didn't seem to hear him. "I CAN SEE HER! A WOMAN! ANGEL! SHE'S ALL ALONE! SHE DOESN'T SEE THEM!" Hope frowned at the strange woman and drifted off to her imagination where it was quiet and there was no shouting. She looked at Steven who was also looking at strange woman as though she were nuts. She loved him so much. It was strange at first because she thought it was a bit soon to fall so hard but he had saved her life a million times and she would die for him and only felt happy when he was around in that awful place. In her mind that made it love.

She breathed a sigh of relief when the insane woman stopped yelling, looked around as though she had been somewhere else and explained to Angel that there was a woman at a bar and a gang of vampires were going to kill her. Angel naturally asked Connor to come. "I'm coming too," Hope said making her way over to the weapons cabinet eyeing the broadsword but as she did Cordelia intercepted, grabbing her arm. "Oh no you're not. You cannot go anywhere looking like that." Cordelia stated bluntly. Hope looked down at herself and then shrugged as though she didn't care. "Come on," Cordelia ordered pulling her up the stairs. Hope looked back hopelessly at Connor and he gave her a small smile finding it a little funny and she glared at him which made him small wider.

A/N: Another chapter :) Reviews keep me writing!


	5. Daddy Issues and Cordelia's Clothes

Hi guys! Another chapter here. A little Cordelia bonding session for Hope and a little look at Hope's background and her relationship with Connor. If I owned any of this why would I be writing it on here? :)

Angel and Connor made their way to the bar, all the while being mostly silent and rather awkward. When they got there they scoped the place out, looking around. Angel noticed Justine sitting at the bar and was immediately filled with a feeling closely compared to cofusion mixed with hate. The vampires started attacking then and were clearly after Justine. Connor and Angel took them out easily and Connor chased one out back.

Connor walked slowy and silently listening for any noise. He swirled around suddenly, stake raised and Angel, who was standing in front of him, hit his arm which turned him back around and staked the vampire. They started playfully fighting then. After that Connor was left with conflicting emotions. Father said Angelus was an evil, souless thing but here he was being friendly and fatherly toward him. It didn't make sense. He would have to think more on this but now he should get back to father.

Meanwhile at the hotel...

Hope was standing in front of the mirror looking at her now clean reflection. She had to concede that Cordelia was right, she had looked horrible before. She now wore some dark blue jeans which hugged her hips and a black tank top. She had been momentarily surprised when Cordelia brought out make-up as it seemed like years since she had used any. Looking at her reflection she found herself remembering things that once seemed important to her like going to school with her friends, Going to the mall and living at home with her parents. She didn't want to see them. She hated them. Her father was a drunk and he used to hit her among other things and her mother was as bad as he was.

Shaking away those unpleasent thoughts she wondered how old she was now. She couldn't really remember how she looked before Quor-toth but looking at herself now she thought she looked different, older, more mature. She remembered her birthday but Steven had explained to her that time moved differently in Quor-toth. She thought back and realised that she was 16 when she had ended up in that horrible place. She guessed she was still 16 by this worlds standards but by the other world starndards she would be around 17. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Cordelia walked in. "Hey, I was thinking that we should try and get a hold of your parents. I'm sure they'd like to know you're ok." Hope was filled with panic and rage at the thought of her parents and she calmed down enough to explain to Cordelia what happened to her whilst living with them. "Well, that settles it then. There are plenty of rooms at the hotel so you can stay there," Cordelia said brightly giving her a kind smile. Hope really liked her. "Thanks," Hope said with an appreciative smile. "Hey, don't sweat it!" Cordelia answered giving Hope a quick friendly hug, "Now lets go downstairs and show people that under all that dirt and grime there was a real hottie hiding." They both stood up and made their way downstairs.

When they got to the bottom they saw Angel walking in looking deliriously happy and Cordelia looked worried for a bit but then smiled. "Hey there. You look very glowy want to tell me what's the what?" Cordelia said all the while smiling a wide smile. He looked at Hope and smiled in a friendly way, "Hey Hope you look good, and yeah Cordy let's talk upstairs though." Hope smiled back at him, "Yeah a good shower and some clean clothes can do wonders." Cordelia and Angel walked up stairs after that. Hope sighed. What to do? she thought. She decided on some quiet time out in the garden. She walked out the door and sat down on a small bench and looked around at all the glorious things she had always took for granted.

Meanwhile at the cheap motel...

"Stop saying that!" Connor said sounding outraged. "It's true son," Holzt replied sounding completely calm. Father had seen Angel and him sparring and was telling him that it was a beautiful thing. They continued arguing and eventually his father got to the piont. "Anyone one who saw you together would realize it's where you're meant to be, At his side," Holtz explained but Connor was having none of it. "There are things you need to find out about yourself, about your father and about the world. i cannot give them to you but he can. Go back to him and find them," his father finished. Connor couldn't believe this was happening. Why was his father doing this? It hurt him more than he wanted to admit. He needed to see Hope, she always made him feel better. He got up and stormed out of the room, jumped off the balcony and ran in the direction of the hotel.

When he got there he saw Hope sitting on a small bench outside and she had a far away look on her face. She looked up then and she smiled but then her smile faultered when she saw his expression. She stood up and walked over to him, "Hey what's wrong? Are you ok?" He shook his head and she sighed sadly and pulled him into her arms. He held her tightly needing to feel that there was someone who cared about him. He pulled back and he gave her a small smile which she returned. He made his way to the hotel's doors and he turned back to her, "Are you coming in side?" She walked back to her seat and said "No I'm just gonna sit here for a while to think." He nodded and walked through the doors.

A/N: Well you know the drill. Review please :D Also, after I finish up with this fic I'm thinking about creating a Virtual Series that continues on in the Comic verse of both angel and buffy. Anyone think I should do it? If so, when I get it started up I'll let you guys know if anyone's interested.

Thanks :)


	6. Healing and A Witness Goes Missing

Hi Guys! New Chapter again. For my story to work Wesley will know that justine killed Holtz but he wont be holding her captive as I have some other plans for her. ok :)

Hope Watched as the wind rustled through the leaves and wondered if Qour-toth had changed her so much that even the slightest things would seem beautiful now. Had it changed her inside? She had been feeling a dark weight inside of her ever since being there and now being back here. She had seen terrible things and something inside of her was telling her that the next few years would be the hardest of her life and it was telling her that something bad was going to happen soon. She stood up suddenly then as she heard some kind of comotion and she walked through the hotel doors only to find Steven holding a knife at Cordelia's throat. She was about shout stop but then her eyes widened as a bright glowing light spread out Cordelia's body and enveloped Steven. As the light went away he began to cry and Cordelia held him to her and for some reason this made Hope angry but she pushed it away and watched as the one she loved cried.

A little while later Fred and Gunn were going to take Steven out somewhere. "Hope, you're welcome to come too," Fred said and for some reason she looked very eager for her to come which resolved her even more. "No thanks you guys have fun. I think I'm gonna go out and see the world again," She said lying through her teeth. She wanted to go see Holtz and see what was going on with Steven. She found that she liked Angel and his little gang and she wanted to make sure Holtz didn't have some revenge plan again. Steven looked a little upset that she wasn't coming but he still walked out with Gunn and Fred. She thought this would be good for him. To get used to people without her there holding his hand.

She got to the motel and found out which room they were in. As she was about to open the door, she heard voices coming from inside. It was Holtz and a woman. They were talking about Steven, Angel and vengeance. She didn't like this. She heard Holtz say to Justine that he needed a favour and then his vengeance would be finished. She quickly ran down the stairs and hid behind a tree when she heard footsteps coming toward the door. She stood silently as she watched Holtz and a red headed woman walked around to the alleyway that was behind the motel. She followed as quietly as she could and hid whenever she thought they would see her. They stopped and Holtz leaned against the wall and he was telling the red head to do something, but she seemed to be refusing. She cupped her hand to her mouth to stop the gasp when she saw the woman stab him in the throat but she couldn't stifle it for the second time and she unintentionally cried out.

The woman turned and walked to wear she was hiding. She reached into the darkness and grabbed Hope's arms and pulled her out into the light. "Well, you must be the sweet girl that Steven's in love with," Justine said sounding very amused, "But that means if I let you go you'll go tell him that I killed his father. Wont you? Well we can't have that can we?" and with that Justine punched Hope in the face which made her fall to the ground and she winced as her head hit the hard concrete. She watched Justine come closer to her but her eyes were falling heaving and she was fighting to keep concious but failed. Everything went dark.

**Connor POV:  
**Connor had found Holtz's body and the woman Justine explained that Angelus had killed him. If he had been in his right mind he would have smelled Hope's scent and blood on the woman but crazed with grief as he was he didn't acknowledge it. He went to the Hotel and pretended everything was fine but inside he wanted so badly to kill Angelus. Again in his grief stricken mind it didn't even come into his head that Hope was not at the hotel. It wasn't until he was walking toward Angel where he was standing on a cliff near the ocean did it register in his mind that he hadn't seen Hope at all and he momentarily panicked but then he calmed as he focused on the task at hand. After Angel was immobilized he signaled to Justine who was on the boat waiting.

As he and Justine finished locking Angel in the metal box he thought he could smell Hope near but brushed it off as his mind playing tricks. He watched with conflicting emotions as Angel sank to the bottom of the ocean. He had liked Angel and some part of him still did and it frustrated him that it did. Angel had killed his father. He deserved what he had gotten. Didn't he?

**Hope POV:**

Hope awoke in a dark place and she looked around. She couldn't see anything but she could tell that she was chained up. A light came on and she squinted as her eyes adjusted to the light and she saw the red headed woman standing there smirking. "Who are you," Hope managed out. Justine walked closer to her, "My name is Justine and guess what your little boyfriend's been doing tonight." Hope frowned. She didn't like this woman at all but she listened quietly wanting to hear what she knew about Steven. "He found his poor father's body just lying there in the alley all drained of blood and I told him all about how his real father came and killed him so-" Hope cut Justine off, "That didn't happen and you know it. You killed Holtz." Justine Smiled but Hope could see the sadness in her eyes when Hope said Holtz's name. "Well yeah I know it but Steven doesn't or actually I probably should tell you he's going by Connor now," justine said with humour in her voice. Hope's brow furrowed. It was strange but she preffered him with the name Connor. It seemed to suit him better. "Why Connor?" Hope asked wanting to know. Justine looked like she was getting bored with talking but answered all the same, "That's what Angel named him when he was a baby. Bit silly now don't you think when he's dumped his daddy in the ocean in a metal box."

Hope's eyes widened and she was horrified. She couldn't belieave that Connor would do that. But then she knew how devoted he was to Holtz. She needed to get out of here so she could tell everone the truth and make everything right again but how.

Meanwhile at the hotel...

Connor had just returned to the hotel and he was looking for Hope. He saw Gunn and Fred looking around in confusion in the middle of the hotel. "Hey, have you seen Hope?" Connor asked. He needed to see her, to be with the one person that made everything alright especially now. "No. We can't seem to find Angel or Cordelia either. You haven't seen them have you?" Gunn replied looking down at his phone and frowning. Connor had to hide his smile and his anger at the mention of Angel's name, "No i haven't seen them." Hope and Cordelia were missing too? He needed to find Hope and if anyone had her he would make them pay slowly and painfully.

A/N: The next chapter will be from the start of season 4. I hope you liked this chapter as it was difficult to write. If you don't like it please keep reading I promise it'll be good :) Review please.


	7. The Game is Up

Hey guys! new chapter. To recap: Connor sunk Angel to the bottom of the ocean, Hope was spying on Holtz and Justine and witnessed his death, now Hope is being held captive by Justine. What will happen? Even I don't know yet.

It had been three months since Angel, Hope and Cordelia had gone missing and Connor was sure he was losing his mind. He was worried over where Hope might be and if someone was hurting her. He was also slightly worried about Cordelia but finding Hope was his main concern. He also had to pretend to be looking for Angel too but he hoped he was rotting down there in that box. He over heard Fred and Gunn talking in the office so he went closer to the door. He heard that they had a lead that may have seen what happenend to Angel. That was not good. He had to find out who this 'lead' was and get rid of them.

Meanwhile in the room with Justine...

Hope winced as Justine kicked her in the stomach again. She was lying on the floor spitting out the blood that was in her mouth from her split lip. After a while of being chained up, Hope had decided, with nothing better to do, to taunt Justine with talk about Holtz. Turns out that wasn't a very good idea. Now Justine considered Hope her punching bag for when she was feeling lousy which was even worse even now for some reason. The first few times Justine beat her, she was terrified because of her history with her parents but now Hope was basically numb inside. She still thought of Connor and hoped he was okay. She thought of Angel too and hoped the same for him. He didn't deserve to be down in the ocean like that. Hope pushed herself off of the ground wincing at the pain in her stomach and stood up. "So, what's made you more enthusiastic tonight?" Hope asked sarcasticly.

Justine served another punch to her gut, "Well that baby stealer Wesley decided to pound my face into the concrete until I told him what really happened to Angel, which means by now he'll probably be rescuing him which sucks for your boyfriend and for me," Justine said and once again she kicked her in the stomach. Hope cried out but made no move to fight back. She knew it was useless. "I'm glad," Hope said smiling for the first time in months.

Meanwhile at the Hotel...

Connor walked upstairs and went to his room. He sat on the bed and sighed. He really didn't like Gunn. He always yelled about everything. On the plus side he had killed that vampire girl so she wouldn't be able to tell Fred and Gunn what happened to Angel. He felt so alone. He missed Hope, she made him feel like there was a reason to him being alive. Now that she was gone he felt so lost. He picked up the gameboy that Gunn had given him and lay back on the bed playing it. Electricity was a plus of this world. He liked games and television but right now he wasn't playing for fun he needed something to keep his mind off of things. Little did he know Fred was coming up the stairs with a taser gun in tow to get some revenge.

Connor awoke tied to a chair. Fred had tasered him and obviously brought him down here. He decided to play dumb but he found it was useless because someone named Wesley had found Angel. Fred tasered him again. It hurt but he was used to pain. The part of him that regretted what he did to Angel was burried deep within him and he tried all the time to convince it to stay that way. Gunn and Fred left the roof then as they heard a noise from outside the office. He took that opportunity. He used all his strength on the ropes and they came off after a few tries. He grabbed the taser but as he did he accidentaly knocked the chair over. He shrugged and hid behind the door. Gunn came first so he punched him out and then Fred ccame so he tasered her with a half smile. He went to go but Angel was standing in the doorway looking unimpressed. He eyed the door and then Angel ordered him to sit. He did but grudgingly. Angel talked about the world and champions and told him that Justine had killed his father on his own request. He couldn't accept that. If he did it would mean his father had only used him for vengeance. It hurt too much to consider.

He tried to run for the door but Angel threw him against the wall. Connor looked up at the face of his true father and wondered what his punishment will be. Angel asked him if he had done anything to Cordelia. When he said no, Angel kicked him out. Now here he was walking the streets looking for a place to stay. He found a fairly clean spot under a bridge and he sat there and just thought for a while but then he lay down and tried to sleep. His dreams were filled with the faces of Hope, Angel, Holtz and strangely enough, Cordelia.

A/N: Ok well hope you enjoyed it. I wanna ask which Idea you prefer. option 1: Hope could come back in the next chapter and things will be less angsty for both of them.  
option 2: Hope could come back after supersymmetry and Connor will have lots of conflicting feeling and Hope will be very jealous of Cordelia.

If I feel like I like one more than the other I'll do that one but I wanna see what you guys wanna see first :)


	8. Hope is Returned

Destroying Hope chapter 7

New chapter! :) I was inspired to write more because I re-discovered the movie 'Crime and Punishment in Suburbia' on my computer. Great movie starring Vincent Kartheiser and Monica Keena. Anyway thanks to all who are reading and who review, it means a lot :)

Hope blinked her eyes wearily as her eyes adjusted to the bright light. In her line of sight was a man whom she did not recognise. He was focused on her shackles and she realised with happiness that he was helping her. She couldn't believe it. It seemed like years had passed being trapped like this and yet it could have been mere weeks. Wesley unchained her slowly and Hope moved to walk but stumbled. Wesley ended up carrying a now sobbing Hope to the car.

The man was looking out in front of him at the road and had a hard expression. She sat up straight and he seemed to notice her movement. "Hold still, you have some pretty serious injuries and it will do you no good to make them worse." In spite of this she continued to move but then winced and relaxed back into the seat once more. "Who are you?" she rasped out and she coughed to clear her throat. He glanced at her and then his eyes were back on the road, "My name is Wesley, I'm a…friend of Angel's."

Hope instantly relaxed. She could trust this man. She let her eyes closed but as soon as she did all she could see was the torture she had suffered at the hands of Justine so she opened them again. "Wait! Where's Justine?" she said immediately panicking. Wesley placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry, you're Safe."  
Wesley thought for a moment about what he should do and where he should take her. He debated taking her to Angel but remembered that her main tie to this world was Connor. Luckily he had been following the troubled teen.

Connor sat staring at the wall lost in thought. He was so confused and he felt terrible. He loved Hope, he was certain of that fact but it was like he was drawn to Cordelia, like she was controlling him.  
Earlier tonight he had taken Cordelia patrolling and they had ended up kissing. It felt wrong but something seemed to be pushing him to feel that it was right. Later she had confronted him and told him nothing could happen between them because she was confused about too many things and needed to figure out who she was.

He didn't understand any of these feelings he was having and tried desperately to push them from his mind. His head jerked up when he heard a knock on the door. He got up and walked to the door cautiously and grabbed his small knife out. He opened the door and was very surprised by what he saw.

He stared into the hard face of Wesley, whom he did not recognise. He was about to say something when he noticed the frail body the man carried. His heart seemed to fall from his chest and he had to take a deep breath so as not to faint. Three months had gone by and he thought he would never see her beautiful face again and yet there she was. It took him a few minutes or it could have even been seconds, to notice the bruises all over her face. With speed even he did not know he possessed he extracted Hope from Wesley's arms and stared down at her. A tear slipped down his face as he realised this was his fault. He had been too wrapped up in his vendetta against Angel to look after her and now she had gotten hurt.

He suddenly remembered Wesley's presence and turned to thank the man but as he did, Wesley was nowhere in sight. Connor pursed his lips then turned his attention back to the unconscious Hope in his arms. He placed her gently as he could onto the bed and set to work on her wounds. Thankfully his fathe…Holtz had trained him medically to an extent. After finishing the bandages he sat on the windowsill watching her with a hardened expression. This was the last time she would be hurt, he vowed. He would bring unnamed pain to any who hurt her from this moment on.


	9. Reunited At Last

Destroying Hope chapter 8

Hope blinked wearily feeling better than she had in a while. She scoped out her surrounding and began to freak out. She did not recognise this place, she did not even remember getting here. She sat up straight in the bed and almost screamed at the pain she felt. She fell back heavily and she looked down. She held up her left arm and saw white bandages down the length and saw the same on her right. She heard a noise on her right and she looked sharply to the source. It was like seeing an Angel from heaven; She had missed him so much. He crossed to the bed and sat on the side nearest to her. Not caring about the pain anymore she launched herself into his arms and he held her tight while she cried.

Once her sobs had quietened Connor spoke softly, "What happened? Who did this to you?" She pulled back and looked down. It was hard to relive those horrible months but she had to tell him. "Justine. She took me and chained me up, tortured me all because I saw her do it." At Connor's confused look she elaborated, "I saw her kill Holtz. She had an ice pick, he was encouraging her to do it, to stab him and she did it. Angel didn't kill him. I'm so sorry Connor." Connor looked down and turned away to look at the wall. His face was unreadable. Hope placed a hand on his arm and he jumped as if she had frightened him. He turned back to her and gathered her in his arms, " It's ok, everything will be alright. You're safe now." He buried his face in her neck and she stroked his back in confusion. What had just happened?

Later Hope lay in Connor's arms in the bed. She sighed and extricated herself from his arms as gently as she could so as not to wake him. She rubbed her arms from the cold. She still wore the black tank top Cordelia had given her three months ago. She stared out of the window at the harsh streets of L.A and sighed once more. Where did she belong now? She guessed being Connor's girlfriend meant she was not welcome at the hotel either now but what did that mean? She wanted to make a difference in the world. While Holtz may not have been her favourite person in the world, he had sparked in her the want to save people, to kill the evil that went bump in the night. But would she be able to do that with only Connor by her side? She knew it would hurt him greatly if she went to Angel to join his fight but Angel was a champion, he knew best how to save the world, he could teach her so much. Hope felt like this was her calling, to help people but would Connor understand that?

She sat on the rickety chair and put her head in her hands. There was something she had not told Connor. It was something she did not want to accept herself; but Hope had a dark past. Not a past filled with demons and murder but one filled with human evil. Her past was the nightmares she'd have when she wasn't dreaming of Quortoth.

She looked over at his sleeping form and blinked back tears. How could he accept her if he found out? He would hate her she knew it. She hated herself for it. And her mother. If that's what you could call her….


	10. Hope's Dark Past

Destroying Hope chapter 9

A/N: Okay guys this chapter was a little hard to write and it borders on M but it is really a high T. There are implications of rape, prostitution and abuse. It is not graphic so don't stress too much but just a warning. There is a lot of background information about Hope and this explores a little Hope and Connor's relationship in Quortoth. Enjoy :)

Flashback

"_Hope!" her mother called sounding furious as usual. Hope trudged soundlessly into the room. Her mother stood and stalked towards her, blonde hair swishing side to side, "There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you! Mr. Worthing said he wouldn't pay us if something like that happens again!" Hope looked her mother in the face with a hard expression, "I am sick of doing this! Do you realised how many lies I have to tell to stop my friends from asking where I am at night and why I am so tired all the time? Do you realise how all this is affecting me? Do you even care?" Hope's voice rose to almost a scream.  
Her mother slapped her, "Hope of course I care! I am your mother! That is why I do this, so I can give you and your sister's a better life!" Her mother sat at the small table that was sitting in the middle of the dark room.  
Hope wiped the blood from her lip and straightened her form, "How can you say that? I'm glad I did what I did with ! I am sick of having to pretend to like these men! I hope now because I said what I really think of him he will never come back! I can't believe you do this to us! We are your daughters and you make us be whores so you get the money!" _

Hope blinked those terrible memories away and smiled slightly. That was the moment when things started to get better.

_As her mother stood to attack her again Hope disappeared into a screaming hell of blood and fire, which she would come to know as Quortoth. The air was almost unbearably hot and there was no life in sight. Everything was red and black. She walked aimlessly through the place trying to find someone that could help her. She soon began to feel like someone was following her. She chanced a look behind her, saw nothing but as she turned back around she came face to face with a terrifying creature. It raised it claw to strike and she closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain but it didn't come. She opened her eyes and saw a boy cleanly cut the head off of the creature. _

Hope smiled fully at that. When he took her back to their camp, the next few weeks (What felt like weeks to her) he was so curious of her because she was different and not like him. Holtz was wary of her at first but then grudgingly embraced her into their 'family' and trained her with Connor. Her and Connor's relationship was very innocent to say the least. With Holtz around basically 24/7 there was no time for kissing and everything else that goes with that but they were together. They knew it; it was like an unspoken agreement. There were no fumbled proposals of having a relationship or requests of courtship. They just knew.

That isn't to say she has never kissed him because that would be silly. No, they definitely had a few stolen moments when Holtz had gone to find food or to fetch water but their kisses were always chaste and short. Now with Holtz gone Hope had no idea how their relationship would be. They were both practically adults and Connor was beginning to understand about this world but Hope wondered if she would be brave enough to let a man touch her like that ever again. All the times she had had sex before it had felt disgusting and cheap, _She _had felt disgusting and cheap. All of those men were always a lot older than her and were never gentle. She remembered her first time vividly. It had been terrible. The man did not even give her time to adjust to his size and just thrust into her over and over until he was finished and spent. Later Hope stood on shaky legs and she screamed as she looked down at the mass of red liquid between her thighs. That whole night she cried in the shower washing the blood and that man from her body. The next day she went to school and laughed with her friends but it was all forced.

Hope once more looked at Connor. How could she tell him? Would he understand or throw her out? She sighed shakily and carefully clambered into his arms once again. They tightened around her comfortably and she leaned back into him. She breathed out softly. Tomorrow she would try and tell him, for now she relished this rare sweet moment in her life.

Connor woke feeling more rested than he had in over three months. The reason for this was lying in his arms. He smiled softly. He did not know how he would have turned out if she had not joined him in Quortoth. His smile faded as he remembered the truth he has learned the other night. From anyone else he would not have believed it; in fact he hadn't believed Angel when he told him he did not kill Holtz. From Hope though, that was one person he would never doubt and it hurt him to realise that he had hurt his own father, his real father and he did not deserve it. He was snapped out of his melancholia by the flash of beautiful blue eyes staring up at him. Hope smiled up at him sleepily and reached up and kissed him softly. She felt him smile against her lips and when she pulled back she was amazed. She could always see it even though he tried to hide it. When he thought she was not looking he had such a deep sadness on his face but it all faded away when he looked at her. She was forever in awe that she had this much control over him and his emotions.

Hope got up off of the bed slowly with Connor's help and she frowned. She did not have any clothes to change into. This only strengthened her resolve to go to Angel. She took a deep breath and turned around slowly, "Connor, I know you're not going to like this but we need to go to Angel," His face went through a mixture of emotions. He breathed out heavily.

He knew she was right. He wanted to apologize to Angel. It would be hard but he also needed to do this for Hope. She needed clothes and he could tell she wanted Angel to help her. It hurt him that she was not going to accept his help for her training but he would deny her nothing. He walked to her and pulled her into his arms, "Ok let's go." She pulled back and smiled at him and they left their home into the streets of L.A on their way to the Hyperion.

It was nearing nine pm and Angel and his team sat in the hotel in a circle. They were all holding hands and the bottle in the middle of the circle began spin wildly. A type of mist shot out of bottle and into the six people sitting in the circle. Cordelia began to sway on her feet and in her confused state shattered the bottle under her boot. Ironically at this moment Connor and Hope walked through the door and in a second they were slumping to the floor with the rest of the team…


	11. Spin The Bottle

Destroying hope chapter 10

A/N: This is the episode 'Spin The Bottle' with the inclusion of Connor and Hope. I really enjoyed doing this one because I was always curious how Connor would be if the spell affected him. I decided not to do the entire episode because really we've all seen it so I focused a bit more on Connor and Hope. It was quite difficult having to remember to write 'Stephen' instead of Connor for this. I slipped a few times and had to re-edit it. Enjoy :)

Hope opened her eyes woozily and swayed as she tried to stand. Goddamn it, she thought, Mom must have forced me into another drug party and once again she could not remember it happening. She looked down at herself and frowned. Usually when something like this happened she would wake in some very compromising situations and outfits and at this moment she wore jeans and a black tank top. She shook her head and then froze as she noticed the seven other people looking confusedly at each other.

Hope zoned in on the conversation now and the hot fake blonde over the other side of the room began throwing accusations at everyone. Hope rolled her eyes and looked around the room at everyone else. There was a pompous English guy who was a little dorky, a skinny Texan girl, a dark-skinned handsome guy, a thin, kind of scary looking young man probably in his teens and a bulky dark haired man all in black looking the most frightened. But then all hell broke loose because she was now being held with an arm around her throat with a knife pressed there by the cute scary teen. Hope squeaked as the knife pressed tighter into her skin and she saw everyone's eyes widening as they looked on. "What the hell is going on? Where is father? Who are you people? Where are we?" He shouted threateningly tightening his hold on Hope.

"We don't even know who she is dumb-ass. Who cares if you kill her?" Cordelia said in a sassy way. The English guy standing watch intervened then with a sheepish laugh, "Uh, do not listen to her. None of us know each and we all don't know what's going on. Please let the girl go and we can all find out what's going on." Connor looked down at the young girl in his arms and thought for a minute before loosening his grip. As soon as he did she pulled out of his grasp and stalked to the other side of the room. From there she glared openly at him. The English guy took a deep breath of relief. He walked into the middle of the floor and smiled dopily, "So, as I established with our…pretty friend over there," He said motioning to Cordelia and she made a noise of disbelief, "Excuse me, pretty? I am so much more than…"He cut her off, "Anyway, I am Wesley Wyndam Price, and I am from the Watcher's Council in England and this is Miss Cordelia Chase from Sunnydale as I understand it, so who are all of you?"

Hope looked at them all wearily, "I'm Hope Reynolds and I go to school here in L.A." She thought it best not to mention her prostitute status especially with how unwilling she was. The boy who had threatened her spoke up next, "My name is Stephen." And that is all he said. Hope was still rubbing her neck and she caught him glaring at her and she glared right back. The dark man introduced himself as Gunn, the Texan was Fred Burkle and the strange confused man sitting on the stairs after a little fit over being Irish introduced himself as Liam.

The English guy, Wesley explained that this was a test in which they had been locked in a place with a vampire. They had to hunt the vampire and kill it. Wesley suggested they all split up into small groups and search separately. Which is why she now walked the upper corridor with the very violently rude Stephen. Hope huffed; she really did not like being paired up with the guy who had threatened to kill her. Oh well, she thought, at least he was cute. She watched him closely now and the way he was walking was like a predator stalking its prey. They entered a room to search when they heard a scream down stairs. Hope walked back to the door to go downstairs when Stephen grabbed her arm roughly, pulled her inside and shut the door. "Its safer in here." Hope retched her arm away and glared at him, "Okay, okay you don't have to be so rough!" She walked past him and sat on the bed grumpily folding her arms over her chest. She watched him put his ear to the door to listen and then he leant back against it and stared at her. She rubbed her neck again because it stang a bit. "I'm sorry, I was confused and you were closest person to grab. Are you okay?" He said and he did sound sorry. She decided to forgive him for now, "Its okay, I'm more than a little confused too and it doesn't hurt that much." She smiled at him reassuringly.

About half an hour later Hope had learned that Stephen lived in a hell dimension called Quortoth and had since he was a baby. A man called Holtz raised him but he was not his real father. He explained that Holtz had told him that one day when he was ready he would show him what his father looked like. Hope now understood why he was so violent. It would be strange to wake up in an entirely different dimension.

Stephen stood and walked to the door, "You should stay here. When I leave lock the door behind me." Hope walked after him, "Wait where are you going?" He turned to look at her and he placed a hand on her shoulder, which was strangely comforting, "I'm going to find the vampire." With that he smiled at her and walked out of the room. Hope frowned, what was this the middle ages? She was a strong young woman and could most definitely take care of herself. She opened the door slowly and peered out. Stephen was nowhere in sight so she crept out into the hallway. She looked over her shoulder behind her. This hotel was kind of eerie when you were alone. She turned back to the front and came face to face with Liam who did not really look like Liam because his face had strange bumps and he had very sharp teeth. He smiled at her evilly and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her towards him. Before she knew it she felt pain shoot through her neck and she realised he had bitten her. Her eyes widened as the pain got worse and let out an enormous scream which she prayed to God someone would hear.

Meanwhile, Stephen had walked back downstairs and saw Fred and the strange green demon mixing something. They noticed his presence and he reached for his knife. This was a demon, demons needed to be killed. That is what father had taught him. But as he strode forward to attack he heard a blood-curdling scream. His face flashed with recognition. Hope. He ran to the stairs and prayed he got there in time. For some strange reason he felt very protective of her.

Hope felt like her life was draining from her and she realised with stupidity that clearly it was. The vampire was drinking her blood and when he was done she would either be dead or possibly a vampire too but then she felt the pain leave her and she was pelted to the floor by a strange force. She looked up and saw Stephen facing off with Liam. She smiled softly he had saved her. She guessed this kind of made up for the whole trying to kill you thing. She placed her hand on her neck and felt hot sticky liquid. She pulled her hand away and gulped as she saw the blood. She began to panic. She had not seen this much blood since that night…her first time. She felt sick and she began to sob uncontrollably. She watched as Liam ran off. She guessed he saw the stake Stephen now held. He turned around and he rushed to her side, "Hope, what's wrong?" She could not answer through the sobs and he looked around and grasped the sleeve of his shirt and tore it off. He held it out to her, "Put this on the wound and keep pressure. I'm gonna carry you okay?" With all her strength she nodded but was about to protest and explain she was probably too heavy to carry but he picked her like she weighed as much as a feather. She held the piece of material to her throat and buried her face into his shoulder. She tried to take calming breaths but the harder she tried to breath, the weaker she felt.

When they made their way downstairs they saw everyone gathered there, even Liam. He placed Hope on the circular sofa in the middle of the hotel and he listened as Fred explained the mixture the demon and her had made. Gunn, Wesley, Angel and Connor each had some and now were looking with clearer eyes. Connor immediately rushed to Hope and coaxed her to open her eyes, which was difficult for her. He gave her some of the mixture and then promptly picked her up. "Where can I find bandages?" Angel pointed out his office and as Connor passed him he glared at him. He had been prepared to apologise to his father but now it would not happen not after what he did to Hope. He pushed all of the items on the desk off not caring what they were and what broke, placed Hope on the desk and searched for the bandages.

He found them after a few minutes and as he was walking back to Hope he saw Angel walk in with a bowl of water. "Um, here you'll need to wash the wound. Uh, do you need any help?" Angel was looking at him apologetically but Connor did not care. He stalked over to Angel and roughly took the bowl from him, "I don't need your help. I can look after her myself." Angel looked down and sighed before leaving the room. Connor soaked the cloth in the water and began to wash the blood from her skin. He watched as she writhed and moaned in pain and he stroked her face to sooth her. There would be no reconciliation with his father now. He would make him pay one day. He placed the bandages onto her skin and carried the bowl of bloody water out of the room. The occupants of the hotel watched and Fred winced as she saw all the blood. He emptied it in the bushes outside and stormed back to the office. He picked Hope up and made his way to the doors again and Angel walked forward, "Connor wait. Why were you two here anyway?" Connor stopped for a second and breathed in heavily to control himself, "We were here because Hope wanted your help with training and also needed some clothes but I can see we are really not safe here with you around." He made to leave again but Angel told him to wait again. Connor watched as he disappeared upstairs and contemplated leaving anyway but was curious. When Angel returned he carried a duffle bag. He handed it to Connor who looked at it wearily, "There's some of Cordelia's clothes and shoes in here. She was planning on throwing them out a while ago so Hope can have them. Wesley filled me in on what happened to her, I'm sorry." Connor nodded and placed the bag on his shoulder making sure not to hurt Hope.

Angel watched as his son left his life once again.


	12. An unfortunate Family

Destroying Hope chapter 11

Here's a new chapter for you. I've got a few chapters written at the moment but I need to edit them first. Please review! It helps me know if people like the story and it encourages me to write more.

Hope awoke feeling terrible. She placed her hand to her neck and felt a bandage. She frowned but then she remembered what had happened. They had all forgotten who they were and then Angel had bitten and nearly killed her. She looked over to the side and saw Connor fast asleep on the ledge of the window. Hope sighed and stretched. She walked over to him and shook him awake gently. He started and looked around wildly before his eyes settled on her. She smiled at him with humour in her eyes, "What were you doing sleeping up here?" he smiled back at her and jumped down from the ledge, "I was watching you to make sure you were okay. I guess I fell asleep." She sighed. She hated how much he thought he needed to protect her, she wasn't fragile. "Um, Angel gave me that bag of clothes for you," He said and the way he spat Angel's name indicated there would be no father-son reunion anytime soon. "You know it wasn't his fault. He was under a spell and he didn't remember who he was and if you recall you tried to kill me too…" Hope trailed off smartly. He looked down guiltily and he had such a look of self-loathing on his face that she rolled her eyes and pulled him into a hug, "Stop it, I don't blame you. You were also under a spell so its ok." She smiled as she pulled back. She began walking to the bathroom, "Ok well I'm going to have a shower and finally get some new clothes on." She grabbed the bag and disappeared into the room. Regardless of what Hope had said he still felt terrible about what happened. He was snapped out his musings by a scream from the bathroom. He smirked, "Sorry, forgot to tell you there's no hot water."

Angel was sitting in his office looking very moody. He heard a knock on the door and saw Lorne walk in. "Hey, Angel-cakes your Aura is radiating bad vibes all over. What's up?" Angel sighed, "Where do I start? Cordy ran away and I've got no idea where she is and My son is now super pissed at me 'cause I tried to eat his girlfriend." Lorne looked thoughtful for a minute before placing his hand on Angel's shoulder, "Um, yeah uh you could always give me some Mannilow and I could tell you how things are gonna turn out?" Angel shook his head, "No, I don't think I want to know. This time I think I'll just let things play out."

Hope stepped out of the bathroom in a long sleeve white top with some black jeans. She had discovered quite a few pairs of stylish shoes in the bag and decided on some practical boots; thank god Cordelia seemed to be only about a size bigger than her. She had something she needed to do today and it would not be easy. He looked up as she entered the room and smiled but his smiled faltered as he saw her expression. "What's wrong?" He asked, sitting down on the bed. She sighed and sat down beside him. "I want to find my sisters. Before I went to Quortoth they were living in L.A, I just hope they haven't moved." Hope looked down as she explained her sisters. Connor frowned as she spoke of her sisters. "How come you never mentioned your sisters when we were in Quortoth?" he asked interested. Hope looked at him and then averted her eyes, "It was too painful to talk about because I missed them." In reality she had used the opportunity another dimension had given her to be somebody else and forget her past. "I'm going today to find them." Connor asked her if she wanted him to come with her but she said no. She needed to see them alone.

Hope grabbed a jacket and left the place feeling nervous, excited and scared. She wished she could help them and she would do all she could to help them. She walked down the street, looking at all the buildings and she felt the strangest vibe in the air like something big and bad was going to happen today. She finally found the building she wanted. Looking up at it brought horrible memories rushing back.

She walked into the place and she looked around. Not much had changed but then again she hadn't been gone long by this world's standards. She was about to go to the bar tender and ask where her mother was when a scream distracted her. "Oh My God! Hope!" cried a girl whom Hope realised was her older sister Annabelle. Annabelle was twenty-two years old and very beautiful, which she never minded showing off. The big difference between Hope and Annabelle was that Annabelle agreed with what her mother was doing to them. Right now Annabelle looked frantic. She ran to Hope and enveloped her in a hug.

"God, where were you? We were all so worried! We thought mom had gotten fed up with you and killed you or something!" She said laughing at her 'joke', "So have you talked to mom yet and are you coming back to work?" Hope cringed a little at the term to describe what went on in this place.  
"No, Annabelle. I'm never coming back to 'work' here. I've got a new life now and I don't need this. The reason I came back is because I want to help the others. They don't deserve all of this, especially Abigail. She's too young to be around stuff like this." Annabelle sighed and rolled her eyes, "Come on. You're seriously not still going on about this are you? What can you do? Where are they gonna go? This is their home!"

Hope had thought about this a lot but still had not come up with a solution yet. She had a semi-idea but she needed help for it to work. "Listen Annabelle, is mom here right now?" Hope asked desperately. Annabelle frowned and answered, "No she's out right now on an errand." Hope sighed in relief and made her way out to the backrooms. "Hope! Wait, what are you doing?" Annabelle called as she chased after her. Hope continued on and called back to her sister, "You may have chosen this life, Annabelle but you can't choose for all of us!" As Hope rounded the back she came face to face so to speak with the dreaded 'rooms'. She shivered remembering spending time in those rooms. She pushed herself past them and made her way through the double doors at the end of the hallway. She smiled in recognition of her other sisters. Abigail, who was fourteen was sitting on the bunk bed on the far left of the room reading a magazine, Ruby, who was 18, was applying make-up at the vanity and Lucy, who was 21, was practicing dancing in the corner. They all turned abruptly at the intrusion and they ran to their sister.

"Hope! I missed you so much!" cried Abigail running and throwing herself into Hope's arms. Hope smiled hugging her sister back and she turned to her older siblings. They looked a little unsure but looked relieved to know their sister was alive. "Hey Ruby, Lucy. How have you been?" Hope said weakly. Lucy looked livid. "How have we been? Hope, we thought you were dead! We thought a client had killed you or something! Where the hell were you!" Lucy had grabbed Hope by the shoulders and Hope shook her off, annoyed, "Lucy calm down! I'm fine. I can't really tell you where I was because you wouldn't believe me if I did. Anyway where I was is not important right now. What is important is I want to know if you want out of this life. I know you don't Annabelle and that's…that's fine I guess if you feel that way but as I said, you can't choose for all of us." Hope stood waiting expectantly, looking at all her sisters.

There was silence at first and their expression changed every second. The first to speak was little Abigail, "Hope, do you mean that I…WE won't have to do…this anymore?" Hope smiled sadly at Abby and blinked back tears. It killed her to know that her young sister had been part of this disgusting operation and the innocent hope in her eyes was heartbreaking, "Yes sweetie. You could have a normal life." Abby looked at the other girls in their scanty apparel and their overdone make up and she turned back to Hope, "I don't want to do this anymore. I want to go with you Hope." The little girl threw herself into Hope's arms. Hope hugged her with all her being and smiled. She looked at the others and Ruby looked indecisive, "Will we be safe? I mean how do you plan to help us escape. You know she has ways of finding us." Hope did know this and that was why she knew she would need help. Their mother was a witch and she was quite powerful. Annabelle, Lucy and Ruby all had some power too as they were older but Hope and Abigail had yet to gain any powers. This was another reason why she did not want to tell Connor of her past because she knew how he felt about magic. He would hate her if he found out. "I have a plan. I know someone who can help but we have to wait 'til nightfall, don't ask why. Tell me now if you want out of this and I'll help you," Hope explained desperately. She knew Angel might be wary of helping her at first but that's what he did wasn't it? He helped the helpless. Well that's what they were. In the end Abigail, Ruby and Lucy had all agreed they wanted out of this life and they agreed to wait until Hope returned with help later. Annabelle looked angry but she respected the wishes of her sisters and promised not to tell their mother.

Now Hope steeled herself as she made her way in the direction of the Hyperion Hotel, ready to plead her case.


	13. Apocalypse Nowish part 1

Destroying Hope Chapter 12

Hey guys! New chapter yay! Anyway this is basically the beginning of a few parts I will have of 'Apocalypse Nowish' of course with the inclusion of Hope. We won't see everything from the actual episode because Hope will be doing her own thing for a few chapters. Anyway on to the chapter. it's quite angsty in places but I'm quite proud of it.

Hope entered the doors hesitantly and looked around. The green demon, Lorne was sitting at the reception desk answering call after call. She felt bad for him. She walked over smiling nervously and he started in shock, dropping the phone. "Ahh! Connor's girlfriend!" He cried sounding scared. Hope winced and sighed. This was not a good start. "Um yeah, Hi. And uh it's Hope by the way," She smiled waving shyly. He breathed out; attempting to calm down and he answered her, "Yeah sorry darling but all I can remember was you nearly taking off my head. Anyway fond memories out of the way, what can I help you with?" "Sorry about that," Hope muttered sheepishly, "But I'm actually here to see angel. Is he around?" Lorne directed her to the office and she made her way there, practicing her thought out speech in her head.

Hope knocked on the door and Angel looked up. "Hope. Hi. Uh listen I wanted to say sorry about the whole biting you thing…" Hope cut him off by waving her hand in the air, "Hey it's okay. Don't worry about it I'm fine. But I'm here 'cause I need a favour." Angel looked at her interestedly, "Sure what is it?" He smiled happily. He did not know whether Connor knew she was here but he figured if he could help Hope he might win some points back with Connor. Hope explained the situation as best she could without mentioning certain things. Once she was done Angel crossed his arms seriously, "Hope, you know as Connor's girlfriend I'd do anything to help you but I'm just really confused by why these girls need my help. All you've told me is they're living with your mother and it's a bad life. I'm sorry but I fight demons, this sounds more like a case for the police. If there's something you're not telling me it's ok you can tell me." Hope took a deep breath and her walls came tumbling down as she sobbed out the whole truth. Angel sat quietly as she exposed her soul to him and it broke his heart to know all of this happened to this poor girl. It also hit close to home because he knew he had caused this kind of pain in people and this made his resolve stronger. He would help Hope with everything he had. He hesitantly pulled the sobbing girl into his arms and after a while she accepted the embrace and she cried into his chest. Unfortunately right at this moment Connor had once again arrived in the hotel to apologise to his father only to find his girlfriend in his arms. Also unfortunately from his angle Connor was unable to see her face and it did not look like she was crying. Connor clenched his fists in anger and he stormed out of the hotel, once again hating the world.

Connor made his way back to their home and he sighed at that thought. She probably wouldn't ever come back now. His dad always beat him at everything and this time he had taken the one thing that mattered to Connor. Reaching the loft where he lived he felt a presence and realised he wasn't alone. "Who's there?" He called placing his hand on his knife, ready to strike if needed. The figure, which stumbled from the shadows, was Cordelia. " Hi, sorry I didn't mean to scare you but I was so scared I needed to be somewhere I felt safe," She half whispered but with his vampire like hearing he heard it perfectly. He breathed out heavily and muttered, "It's okay you can stay here all you like," And with that he stormed over to the bed sitting down heavily. He watched as Cordelia frowned and approached the bed, " hey, are you okay?" "No," he answered back simply and he doubted he would be all right in the near future. "Uh do you wanna talk about it?" Cordelia offered sounding hesitant. Connor did not really feel like talking about it at all but he figured it would help get some of the anger out.

After Hope had finished crying, Angel and her began planning how they would handle the night's event. After much planning and gathering all weapons that were necessary, Hope and Angel made their way to get her sisters.

Connor had ended up telling Cordelia everything. All about Hope and their relationship and what he had seen earlier. Little did Connor know Cordelia planned on exploiting anything she could to get her way and this was the perfect opportunity. She muttered comforting words to Connor to please him into telling her more and she felt she was making progress. Her plan was going so well she almost forgot about her other plan. Today was the day her beast would rise and she needed to set the scene. So like the perfect actress she was, she pretended to have a vision. Of course when she said she was going looking for the place in her vision he volunteered to go. As her back was turned she smiled, everything was going according to plan and who knew that Hope would screw herself over without any help from her.

Angel and Hope entered the bar and looked around for any sign of her mother. When they saw the coast was clear they made their way to the back where the girls would be. As they entered the bedroom, Hope motioned for them to gather around and she handed out weapons to her sisters. Hope frowned as she looked around. "Where's Abby?" Just then Annabelle burst into the room, "Hope, she's in room four. It's Worthing!" Hope felt dread fill her. Andrew Worthing was the most disgusting roughest man she had encountered in her years in the profession and right at this moment he was with her baby sister. Hope grabbed Angel's broad sword and made her way to the door, "I'm gonna kill him!" She seethed filled with rage.

Without bothering to knock she kicked the door in. Worthing was on the bed on top of Abby but she still clothed, thank heaven. Hope stormed forward and thrust the sword at him. "Get the hell off of my sister!" She yelled angrily. He turned to see who it was and he rolled his eyes. "Oh Hope, I knew you'd be back wanting me. We had a good thing you and me. But I've moved on now, little Abby is my favourite now, aren't you precious?" He said in a soft voice to Abby who was crying softly on the bed. This made Hope furious, "You disgust me, you filthy pig! You're never going to touch Abby again or any of my sisters. Now get out before I use this!" She made sure to point the sword harder this time and it nicked his throat slightly and he gulped. Slowly he backed out of the room before running from the place. Once he was gone Hope lowered the sword and Abby ran to her, hugging her around the middle and sobbing. "It's okay Abby, Everything's alright. We're going to get out of here and we're never coming back," Hope assured the crying girl but as they reached the door they found they could not leave. They could not leave because standing in front of the door was their mother. "Hello Hope I've missed you…"

Ooh suspense! Anyway please review!


	14. Apocalypse Nowish part 2

Destroying Hope Chapter 13

Another chapter for you!

Hope gasped, "Mother!" Her mother smiled cruelly, "What do you think you're doing Hope? Are you trying to take my little girls from me? You have no right!" Hope looked at her mother disbelievingly, "I have no right? No right to what? Rescue my sisters who are too terrified of you to try and escape themselves? I'm leaving tonight mother with Abby, Ruby and Lucy whether you like it or not. Annabelle has chosen to stay and that's her choice but the others want out!" Her mother turned to look at Abby and she put on her best fake mothering voice, "Abigail sweetie, you don't want to leave mommy do you? Remember I keep you safe and if you leave there'll be nothing for you." Her mother attempted to grab Abby but she pressed further into Hope, "No! I hate you mom! I'm leaving with Hope and you can't stop us!" Their mother stood upright and sighed, "Well I gave you a chance to come quietly but you asked for this."

She began chanting in a foreign language and Hope screamed in pain as Abby felt hot as fire and she was unable to hold her anymore. With the opportunity, their mother grabbed the younger girl and pulled her from the room. "Abby!" Hope cried desperately. Hope gripped the sword and ran after them. As she did she called out to Angel, "Angel my mother has Abby! I'm going after them but I need help!" She continued after the pair until she came to the back door, which led to the alley. Bursting through the doors, she saw her mother pulling Abby along but the young girl gained the upper hand as she kicked her mother in the leg causing her to stumble. Her mother looked ready to hit the girl but Hope caught up to them quickly. "Let her go mother! Just let me take her away from this, please!" Hope cried pointing the sword at her mother. Their mother stubbornly gripped Abby harshly, "No! You are not taking her from me! I need her or I will lose my business!" Hope could not believe what she was hearing, "Jesus Christ mother! Is that all you care about? Your business! That is your daughter! We all are and you treat us like whores!" Her mother let out a cruel laugh and pulled Abby roughly against her, "That's because you are whores! All of you! That's all you'll ever be good for! That's only reason I had any of you!"

Hope's eyes widened in horror. She had held onto some kind of hope that somewhere their mother cared about them but here was the proof. They were just tickets to a pay off to her. Regardless of this Hope wanted to try and make it out of this with everybody in tact. Even though her mother didn't love her, somewhere in Hope felt love for her mother. She saw over her mother's shoulder Angel approaching slowly. Hope gulped, "Mother please, it doesn't have to be like this. Just give me Abby and we will go." Her mother screamed in anger, "NO! I've had it Hope. You've always been a pain, all your life and now I'm going to end it!" She pulled out a gun and pointed it at Hope. Hope closed her eyes waiting for the pain that was sure to come but instead she heard her mother scream. Hope's eyes snapped open and she watched in horror and relief as Angel sank his fangs into their mother's neck. Abby ran to Hope and hid behind her somewhat. Hope pursed her lips unsure what she felt towards Angel's action at that moment and she decided not to think about it right now. She led Abby away and left Angel to their mother.

As Angel dropped Hope's mother's lifeless body to the ground, he felt a moment of guilt but then he remembered what Hope had told him of her mother. He had meant what he said when he said that he would help Hope with everything he had and this was the only way he could see this ending. Their mother would have hunted them down and that would have cause the girls more pain in the end so he offered them a gift, a harsh disgusting one, but a gift all the same. He just hoped Hope did not hate him for it.


	15. Apocalypse Nowish part 3

Destroying Hope Chapter 14

Hi there! Another chapter! Hope you're liking it! :)

Some time later Hope, Angel and the other girls made their way into the Hyperion. Abby, Ruby and Lucy looked around in wonder. They had never been in a place this nice before and they were awestruck for a while. Luckily Angel had agreed to Hope's request to let the girls reside in the numerous rooms in the hotel and Hope smiled as she told her sisters to choose their rooms. They rushed off excited to begin their new lives. Angel had been acting strangely since leaving the bar and Hope knew why. "Angel, I understand what you did. I know why did it; she would have kept coming back. It wasn't what I wanted but I am grateful. So thank you." Hope said turning to Angel. He sighed and nodded to her. She sighed, "will you keep them safe while they're living here? I have to get back to Connor now." Angel looked her in the eye, "Of course I'll keep them safe." He pursed his lips for a second before speaking, "Uh Hope I know things are awkward right now with Connor but I want you to know that you two can move back in if you want." Hope smiled softly at him and then placed her hand on his arm, "Thanks Angel. I'll talk to Connor about it." He smiled happily back at her and felt like things would start to get better now. Hope made her way to the door and she was about to open it when a shower of birds hit it. "What the hell!" Hope exclaimed. Angel, Lorne and Gunn all wore the same expressions.

Later Wesley had shown up and they had all examined the information that Wolfram and Hart had taken from Lorne's head. Soon enough Angel and the others mounted up to go out. Hope began to load up too. "No, no, no. Hope you're not coming." Angel ordered grabbing the sword from her hand and placing it back in the weapon cabinet. Hope looked outraged, "What? Angel I'm not a baby. I know how to fight and I want to help!" She went to grab the sword again but Angel padlocked it before she could get it. "I said no. I'm trying to win back Connor's trust. If I let you come you could get yourself killed and he would never forgive me. Besides you should stay here and look after your sisters. They need you right now." Hope sighed but gave in and walked upstairs to see her sisters.

She located them in the room closest to the stairs and looked in. They were all sitting on the bed and chatting animatedly amongst each other. She smiled. This was the happiest she'd ever seen them. "Hey, How're you settling in?" Hope asked after knocking on the doorframe. They all smiled at her. "This is so cool. We get T.V and soft beds!" Abby cried happily bouncing on the bed slightly. Ruby and Lucy agreed their happiness too and Hope felt proud that she was able to help her sisters. Soon though Hope made her way to the window frowning. She pulled back the curtain and gasped at the sight before her. There was literally fire raining from the sky! Hope began to worry then and she hoped that wherever Connor was he was inside and not on the streets patrolling. She also hoped Angel and the others were safe too. Deciding there was nothing more she could do, Hope joined her sisters on the bed and began telling them of her unbelievable story of her time in Quor-toth to now.

(I know you guys are gonna hate me for doing this but I swear to god this is not gonna be exactly like in the show and it WILL have a happy ending. I promise!)

Meanwhile Connor found himself staring into Cordelia's eyes. As he kissed her back, he knew it was wrong and it felt wrong too but he couldn't stop. It was like a compulsion. And so Angel watched as his son and the woman he loved became one in that fiery rain. He felt his heart shatter and he did not want to think of what Hope would feel like when she found out.


	16. Habeas Corpses part 1

Destroying Hope Chapter 15

Another one coming up! :D Please review!

Connor woke the next morning feeling groggy and disorientated. He frowned because he realised he was not alone in the bed but then his memory caught up. He was disgusted with himself. He had betrayed Hope with Cordelia. He didn't even feel anything towards her. But last night for some reason he couldn't stop himself. It was like he was being controlled. He turned away from her and closed his eyes trying to will the images of last night away. He was furious with himself. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and he sighed in annoyance. "Hi, so I guess the world didn't end then," Cordelia remarked with a hint of a joke and shook her hand off. "Cordelia please just leave," He muttered and she began to argue but he cut her off firmer this time, "Just leave!" He heard her sigh and heard her get dressed and leave the loft. He sat around in self-hate and pity for a while before his mind was made up. He was going to face the beast. It was his fault it was here. After all it had rose up where he was born that had to mean something.

Angel re-entered the lobby of the Hyperion just before the sun got him. Hope heard the door close and she walked the down the stairs. As she saw him she ran and hugged him, "Oh my god Angel, you're okay! We had no idea what was going on last night. We thought you all might have died." He couldn't bring himself to return the hug and he pushed her off gently. "We had a stand off with the beast and he made the sky rain fire but everyone's okay," he explained. Hope studied him carefully, "Are you okay Angel?" He stared at her for a few seconds inwardly in pain before lying to her that he was fine. "Okay well I'm gonna go check on Connor and see if he's okay because…" Angel cut her off, "He's fine. I went there last night and he's fine." With that Angel abruptly made his way upstairs. Hope stood there looking confused for a minute before shaking her head and going back upstairs to her sisters. She wanted to tell them she was leaving before she left.

As she was going upstairs she heard the door open. Glancing back she saw Cordelia enter. "Cordelia?" Hope started and she made her way back downstairs again, "I haven't seen you in so long." Cordelia smiled and embraced her, "Hope, Hi how are you? They told me you were kidnapped." Hope smiled but felt there was something off about her but she shook off the feeling, "Yeah but I'm okay now. Are you okay though? Because I didn't see you here at all last night and you know there was the whole rain of fire thing…" Cordelia laughed in a way that was supposed to sound kind, "Oh yeah I'm fine. I actually stayed with Connor last night. He was nice enough to offer me his bed." As she said this Hope saw humour in the woman's eyes and she wondered why. "Oh well that was nice of him. Um is he okay though?" Hope asked genuinely worried for his safety. "That's actually what I came here to talk about so let's go to Angel and I'll tell you both," She explained sounding more serious now. Hope followed Cordelia feeling extremely untrusting.

Hope was now stressing with worry. Cordelia had informed them that Connor thought he was connected to the beast and now he is probably going after it and if that wasn't enough Cordelia kept looking at her in a gloating way. Unable to take the annoying looks anymore, Hope moved and sat beside Ruby who was reading a book on the couch. They were all interrupted as Wesley entered the hotel. He informed them that the beast was in Wolfram and Hart and it was killing everyone. None of the occupants of the hotel were fussed until he mentioned that Connor was in there. Hope began to freak out now. "Oh god!" Hope breathed and she got up and grabbed the first sword she could find, "I'm going to get him now!" Before she could even make it to the door Angel had intercepted her and dragged her back to the rest of them, "Hope stop it. You going in there alone is not going to help. You'll just get yourself killed." Finally Hope stopped struggling and sat down on the couch once more. Angel, Fred, Gunn and Wesley left soon after that to rescue him and Hope was left with Cordelia and her sisters. She didn't know what she would do if he wasn't okay.

Angel crept silently through the halls of Wolfram and Hart searching everywhere and stepping over bodies. He prayed he would not see the face of his son on any of them. Soon enough though he found him and the relief Angel felt at that moment was enough to overpower the anger he felt at his son at least for the moment.


End file.
